Estimation of soil organic partition coefficients: from retention factors measured by soil column chromatography with water as eluent

The retention factors ( k) of 104 hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) were measured in soil column chromatography (SCC) over columns filled with three naturally occurring reference soils and eluted with Milli-Q water. A novel method for the estimation of soil organic partition coefficient ( K oc) was developed based on correlations with k in soil/water systems. Strong log K oc versus log k correlations ( r>0.96) were found. The estimated K oc values were in accordance with the literature values with a maximum deviation of less than 0.4 log units. All estimated K oc values from three soils were consistent with each other. The SCC approach is promising for fast screening of a large number of chemicals in their environmental applications.